


Tug of War

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: The Way of the Apartment Manager [11]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Families of Choice, Family, Fifteen Minute Fic, Gen, Pre-Canon, Side Story, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-16
Updated: 2010-03-16
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2552273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto has a bad day at school.  Yukiko wishes he'd let her help more.  (Part of the "Apartment Manager" AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tug of War

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the 3/15/10 [15_minute_fic](http://15_minute_fic.livejournal.com) word #, though I ran half an hour over the time limit. *sigh* "Tug of War" is another transitional piece between [The Way of the Apartment Manager](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1120050/chapters/2257065) and "The Guardian in Spite of Herself." This one is set a month or so after Naruto and Shinnin befriend Sakura (...which is a story I owe [Aishuu](http://aishuu.livejournal.com) and ought to finish before April, argh), so it's probably early-to-mid spring.

"How was school?" Yukiko asked, not bothering to look up as Naruto opened her office door.

"You cheat, Yukiko-neechan," he said, his voice weirdly flat and sullen. "I figured out all your traps and tiles an mirror and strings and stuff, and you still always know it's me. You're using ninjutsu."

"Genjutsu, technically," Yukiko agreed, "but that's not cheating. We're ninja. If a technique works, it's fair play, remember?" She finished writing her name on a check and walked over to where Naruto leaned in the doorway.

Usually the kid wouldn't shut up about whatever he'd learned that day (or tried to learn, at any rate), and he could talk her ear off for hours with gossip about a bunch of seven-year-old kids she had no interest in ever meeting. Today he was hunched in on himself, scowling, and refusing to meet her eyes.

"Are Sakura-kun's parents giving you a hard time again?" Yukiko asked, leaning on the opposite side of the doorframe. "I'm more than willing to yell at them, though that would probably hurt more than it would help."

Naruto jerked his head side-to-side, just a little. "They're always a pain. I can deal with them."

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Naruto said.

Yukiko waited. If he didn't want to talk, he wouldn't be here. And she much preferred him talking than taking his mood out in wild pranks.

Sure enough, after a minute the kid started to fidget. "Um."

"Yeah?"

"We had a contest today," he muttered. "Iruka-sensei split us into two-person teams and made us do taijutsu against each other, all the moves we've been learning this month. I got stuck with Kiba and his stupid dog tripped me in the first round and I fell out of the circle and got discal-- disquan--"

"Disqualified?"

"Yeah. It was _his_ fault, 'cause he knows I can't talk to his dog and he should've told Akamaru to stay out of the way or go trip up the other team, but Kiba said it was my fault 'cause I'm stupid and clumsy and he said I should be kicked out and--"

Yukiko crouched down and pressed her fingers across Naruto's mouth, startling him into silence. "Okay. Three points. First, you're not stupid. You don't always stop to think and you're not great at schoolwork, but nobody who puts together pranks like yours is dumb. You just didn't have parents to help you out when you were little."

Naruto flinched, and Yukiko hurried on. "Second, of course you're clumsy. You're seven. All kids are clumsy. The point of the academy is to train you how to move -- if you already knew, there wouldn't be anything to learn, right?"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. But a lot of the other kids already know how to throw shuriken and hit people and stuff."

"Yeah, well, a lot of your classmates are from ninja clans. Don't compare yourself to them. Compare yourself to the civilian kids -- they're in the same tree as you, only more so. You at least went in knowing how to make a fist and take a fall. I didn't even know that when I started at the academy."

"Really?" said Naruto.

"Really," said Yukiko. "And, getting back on track, the third point is that Kiba probably knows he screwed up, but I bet he was embarrassed to admit it. So he blamed you."

"Because everyone hates me," Naruto said, slumping again.

Yukiko wished for the thousandth time the Third Hokage had left a little slack in his damned law. It didn't do any good to keep the Kyuubi's status secret if everyone disliked Naruto anyway and taught their children to follow their example.

"Maybe a little, but he would've blamed whoever his partner was," she told Naruto. "When people feel bad about ourselves, sometimes we take it out on anyone around us. It's not pretty, but that's just what people do."

"I don't, " Naruto said. " _You_ don't."

Fat lot he knew. But it was nice being idealized, in moderation. "You haven't seen me argue with my family," Yukiko said. "Anyway, don't take it too hard. Nobody's going to kick you out of the academy. Hokage-sama wouldn't let them, and Iruka and I wouldn't stand for it either." A thought struck her. "Hey, did Iruka hear what Kiba said? Did you tell him?"

Naruto shook his head, some of his usual energy seeping back into the gesture. "He was on the other side of the practice ground making sure Shikamaru and Choji didn't just forfeit 'cause they're lazy. And I didn't tell him, 'cause it's not like it's anything new, right?" He straightened, pasting a determined expression on his face. "I can deal with it, like I deal with Sakura-chan's parents and Shinnin's dad. Don't worry about me!"

Yukiko swept him into a hug.

"Hey!" Naruto yelped. "I told you I'm okay! Really I am."

"I know you can deal with people being jerks," Yukiko said, resting her cheek on his spiky hair. "That doesn't mean you should have to. You wouldn't let me or Iruka or your friends fight our problems all alone, would you?"

"Nooooo," Naruto said, suspicion thick in his voice.

"So why do you think we won't help you?"

Silence.

"I do ask you for help," Naruto said after a long moment. "I ask you about taijutsu, and cooking, and math, and lots of stuff."

And he completely missed the point. Again. Yukiko sighed. Well, Konoha wasn't built in a day, the First Hokage's skill with wood notwithstanding. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You _need_ help with math, trust me. And one of these years, I might even teach you how to keep genjutsu from blowing up in your face."

She let go of Naruto. He pulled back, an ominous light in his blue eyes. "You'll start teaching me genjutsu? Then I'll finally know how to sneak up on you! Ha!" He punched the air, grinning like a maniac. "You watch out, Yukiko-neechan. I'm gonna be the best ninja ever. And then it won't matter what Kiba says."

More accurately, if Naruto were the strongest ninja in Konoha, Kiba wouldn't say anything bad in the first place. Hopefully. But judging by her informal family-teacher conferences with Iruka, that day was a long way off, if it would ever come.

"Sure, kid. You keep working toward that dream," Yukiko agreed, standing and stretching to work the kinks out of her back. "In the meantime, get your homework done early for once. We're going out for dinner."

Impossibly, Naruto's grin widened. "Ramen?"

"You're going to get vitamin deficiencies, but yes, ramen."

Naruto cheered, and dashed down the hallway toward the back stairwell. Yukiko watched him go with a sharp-edged mix of worry and admiration. She didn't know how Naruto got through each day, sometimes. And she wished with all her heart he didn't have to be so strong.

Sighing, she closed her office door and went to call Iruka.


End file.
